Elastic-fluid turbine.



0; B. REARIOK.

ELASTIC FLUID TURBINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9, 1912.

. 1,069,171 Patented Aug. 5, 1913.

wmvssses M ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES IBEMIS REARICK, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0CONNECTI- CUT TURBINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT,A

CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT,

ELAST IC-FLUID TURBINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 9, 1912.

Patented Aug. 5,1913. Serial No. 735,601.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES BEMIs REA- RICK,a citizen of the United States, and resident of New London, in thecounty of New London, State of Connecticut, have made certain new anduseful Inventions Relating to Elastic-Fluid Turbines, of which thefollowing is a specification, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, which forms part of the same.

This invention relates to return members especially adapted for use withspiral flow elastic fluid turbines, such as are described in my formerPatent 1,003,203, of September 12, 1911, for instance, the trailingreturn passage being given a special construction so as to have agreater advancing angle than the other return passages and lead itssteam into the forward return passage before reentering the wheel.

In the illustrative embodiment of this invention shown in the drawing ina-somewhat diagrammatic way, Figure l is a bottom view of the returnmember taken along the line 1-1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a longitudi nalsection through the injecting side of the return member takensubstantially along the line 22 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is a transversesectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The return member may be formed of suitable material in any desired way,as for instance by casting the return member 1 integral with thesupporting nozzle tube 2. In this way a series of these nozzle andreturn members may be conveniently mounted to cooperate with a turbinewheel as described in my former patent, proper alinement being readilysecured if the connecting lug 22 on each of these members is broughtinto engagement with a cooperating alining hole 28 in the next member,thus holding the members in proper cooperation with the turbine wheel,such as 26, which may be formed with an annular series of stepped curvedbuckets 21 having the bucket partitions 27 between them.

The nozzle and return member may as indicated in Fig. 2 be formed with asuitably expanding injecting nozzle 3 arranged to receive steam or otherelastic driving fluid from the nozzle tube 2 so as to inject it into thewheel bucket-s. This nozzle may with advantage be provided with areduced rear portion and also with an angularly or otherwise reducedforward portion by forming these sides 31, 32 of the nozzle opening at asuitable angle to the outer side or edge 30 of the nozzle opening whichis preferably substantially in line with the cooperating wheel buckets.The driving fluid after making a single pass through the wheel bucketsenters the receiving side of the return passages so as to be guidedaround and again injected from the returning sides of these returnpassages so as to be passed through the wheel buckets the desired numberof times before being finally released from the wheel. These returnpassages are preferably advancing so as to return the steam fartherforward on the wheel than the point at which it was received from thewheel and as indicated in Fig. 1 each of the normal re turn passages 8,10, 12, 1 1 and 16 of which any desired number may be formed in eachreturn member is preferably arranged at such an advancing angle as toadvance the steam to the extent of one wheel bucket before againreturning it to the wheel. These return passages may be convenientlyprovided by casting or otherwise arranging suitable diaphragms such as9, 11, 13, 15 and 24 in the return member so as to form a series ofcurved return passages in the return member 1 which guide the motivefluid gradually and with relatively slight frictional or eddy losses andfinally again return or inject it into the wheel buckets. The shape ofthe curved bottoms of these illustrative return passages is shown inFig. 3, the dotted lines 17, l8, l9 and 20 in the longitudinal sectionalview showing how they may be arranged.

The trailing return passage 4 is preferably given a special shape andprovided with a rear side 25 having a greater advancing angle than theother return passages so as to carry the steam or other motive fluidreceived in this trailing return passage farther ahead and bring it intothe communicating forward return passage 8 before again injecting itinto the wheel. Under normal conditions this trailing return passagereceives the steam which enters the rearmost of the two receiving wheelbuckets whenever one of the bucket partitions is moving across theinjecting nozzle, the f0rward of these two buckets receiving steam whichenters the forward return passage 8 which thus receives a larger andmore regular supply of the motive fluid which should be more accuratelyguided in returning it to the wheel buckets without unnecessarydisturbance. For this reason the diaphragm 5 between this forward returnpassage 8 and the trailing return. passage 4: is preferably providedwith a forward face having substantially the normal advancing angle thesame as the other diaphragms ahead of it while the rear face of thisdiaphragm 5 may be formed with a greater inclination in whole or in partas by forming it with a beveled edge 7 which may have a longinclination, this edge 6 preferably extending about two-thirds aroundthe return passage toward its returning or injecting end. As indicatedin Figs. 1 and 3. the steam somewhat irregularly entering the trailingreturn passage is thus guided forward at a greater angle than in theforward return passage and this trailing return passage communicateswith the forward return passage at a point about two-thirds aroundtoward its returning end at which point the curved bottoms of thesereturn passages preferably form parts of the same curved guiding surfaceso that the steam from the trailing return passage unites with thesteam'in this forward return passage 8 before being again returned orinjected into the wheel buckets. In case the amount of steam in thistrailing return passage is momentarily greater than usual the stream offluid naturally has a greater depth in passing through the constrictedthroat of this return passage which has a greater width to *ard thecenter of the return passage, as indicated in Fig. 1, so that this steamfrom the trailing return passage tends to pile up upon the stream ofsteam in the communicating forward return passage so as to be more orless arranged inside this curved stream of fluid again returned to thewheel buckets. The greater advance of a trailing return passage of thischaracter seems especially effective in disposing of the rearwardlydiverted steam or backsplits when a bucket partition is passing thenozzle and is especially adapted to work in cooperation with aninjecting nozzle provided with a reduced rearward portion and alsopreferably with a reduced forwardly extending portion so as to have moreor less angular or otherwise reduced ends as indicated in Fig. 1.

Having described this invention in connection with a number ofillustrative embodiments, forms, proportions, numbers of parts,arrangements, materials and processes of manufacture, to the details ofwhich disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, what isclaimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims.

1. In elastic fluid turbines, a turbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, an integral nozzleand return member cooperating with said wheel buckets and comprising asupporting nozzle tube and connected nozzle having its outer edgecooperating with and substantially in line with the sides of said wheelbuckets and having angularly reduced forward and rear portions,diaphragms in said member to form a series of curved return passagescooperating with said wheel buckets and each having an advancing angleso as to advance along the wheel to the eX- tent of one wheel bucket anda trailing return passage having a rear side at a greater advancingangle than the communicating forward return passage and having a forwardside formed of a diaphragm having substantially the normal advancingangle and provided with a beveled edge extending about two-thirds aroundto the returning end of said return passage to form a constricted threatfor said trailing return passage communicating with the forward returnpassage, said trailing return passage and said communicating forwardreturn passage having common curved bottoms at their returning ends.

2. In elastic fluid turbines, a turbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, a nozzle and returnmember cooperating with said wheel buckets and comprising a nozzlehaving its outer edge cooperating with and substantially in line withthe sides of said wheel buckets and having an angularly reduced forwardportion, diaphragms in said member to form a series of curved returnpassages cooperating with said wheel buckets and each having anadvancing angle so as to advance along the wheel to the extent of onewheel bucket and a trailing return passage having a rear side at agreater advancing angle than the communicating forward return passageand having a forward side formed of a diaphragm having substantially thenormal advancing angle and provided. with a beveled edge extending atleast as much as half way around to the returning end of said returnpassage to form a constricted threat for said trailing return passagecommunicating with the forward return passage, said trailing returnpassage and said communicating forward return passage having commoncurved bottoms at their returning ends.

3. In elastic fluid turbines, a turbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, a nozzle and returnmember cooperating with said wheel buckets and comprising a nozzlehaving its outer edge cooperating with and substantially in line withthe sides of said wheel buckets and having a reduced forward portion,diaphragms in said member to form a series of curved return passagescooperating with said wheel buckets and each having an advancing angleso as to advance along the wheel to the extent of one wheel bucket and atrailing return passage having a rear side at a greater advancing anglethan the communicating forward return passage and having a forward sideformed of a diaphragm provided with an edge extending at least as muchas half way around to the returning end of said return passage to form aconstricted throat for said trailing return passage communicating withthe forward return passage, said trailing return passage and saidcommunicating forward return passage having common curved bottoms attheir returning ends.

4. In elastic fluid turbines, a turbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, a nozzle and returnmember cooperating with said wheel buckets and comprising a nozzlehaving a reduced forward portion, diaphragms in said member to form aseries of curved return passages cooperating with said wheel buckets andeach having an advancing angle so as to advance along the wheel to theextent of one wheel bucket and a trailing return passage having a rearside at a greater advancing angle than the communicating forward returnpassage and having a forward side formed of a diaphragm provided with anedge extending at least as much as half way around to the returning endof said return passage to form a constricted throat for said trailingreturn passage communicating with the forward return passage.

5. In elastic fluid turbines,aturbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, a return membercooperating with said wheel buckets and a nozzle having its outer edgecooperating with and substantially in line with the sides of said wheelbuckets, diaphragms in said member to form a series of curved returnmembers cooperating with said wheel buckets and each having an advancingangle so as to advance along the wheel to the extent of one wheel bucketand a trailing return passage having a rear side formed at a greateradvancing angle than the communicating forward return passage and havinga forward side formed of a diaphragm having substantially the normaladvancing angle and provided with a beveled edge extending abouttwo-thirds around to the returning end ofsaid return passage to form aconstricted throat for said trailing return passage communicating withthe forward return passage, said trailing return passage and saidcommunicating forward return passage having common curved bottoms attheir returning ends.

6. In elastic fluid turbines, a turbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, a return membercooperating with said wheel buckets and a nozzle, diaphragms in saidmember to form a series of curved return members cooperating with saidwheel buckets and each having an advancing angle so as to advance alongthe wheel to the extent of one wheel bucket and a trailing returnpassage having a rear side formed at a greater advancing angle than thecommunicating forward return passage and having a forward side formed ofa diaphragm provided with a beveled edge extending about two-thirdsaround to the returning end of said return passage to form a constricted throat for said trailing return passage communicating with theforward re turn passage.

7. In elastic fluid turbines, a turbine wheel provided with partitionsforming an annular series of lapping curved buckets, a return membercooperating with said wheel buckets and a nozzle, diaphragms in saidmember to form a series of curved return members cooperating with saidwheel buckets and each having an advancing angle so as to advance alongthe wheel to the extent of one wheel bucket and a trailing returnpassage having a rear side formed at a greater advancing angle than thecommunicating forward return passage and having a forward side formed ofa diaphragm provided with an edge extending part way around to thereturning end of said return passage to form a throat for said trailingreturn passage communicating with the forward return passage.

8. In elastic fluid turbines, a return member, cooperating diaphragms insaid return member to form a series of curved return passages tocooperate with the wheel buckets and each having an advancing angle anda trailing return passage having a rear side at a greater advancingangle than the communicating forward return passage and having a forwardside formed of a diaphragm having substantially the normal advancingangle and provided with a beveled edge extending about two-thirds aroundto the returning end of said return passage to form a constrictedangular sectioned throat for said trailing return passage communicatingwith the forward return passage, said trailing return passage and saidcommunicating forward return passage having common curved bottoms attheir returning ends.

9. In elastic fluid turbines, a return member, cooperating diaphragms insaid return member to form a series of curved return passages tocooperate with the wheel buckets and each having an advancing angle anda trailing return passage having a rear side at a greater advancingangle than the communicating forward return passage and having a forwardside formed of a diaphragm having substantially the normal advancingangle and provided with a beveled edge extending at least as much ashalf way around to the returning end of said return passage to form aconstricted throat for said trailing return passage communicatin g withthe forward return passage, said trailing return passage and saidcommunieating forward return passage having common curved bottoms attheir returning ends.

10. In elastic fluid turbines a return member, cooperating diaphragms insaid re turn member to form a series of curved return passages tocooperate with the wheel buckets and a trailing return passage having arear side at a greater advancing angle than the communicating forwardreturn passage and having a forward side formed of a diaphragm providedwith an edge eX- tending at least as much as half Way around to thereturning end of said return passage to form a throat for said trailingreturn passage communicating with the forward return passage.

11. In. elastic fluid turbines, a return member, cooperatingdiapl'iragms in said return member to form a series of curved returnpassages to cooperate with the wheel buckets and a trailing returnpassage having a rear side at a greater advancing angle than thecomi'minicating forward return passage and having a forward side formedof a diaphragm provider l with an edge extending only part way around tothe returning end of said return passage to form a throat for saidtrailing return passage communicating with the forward return passage.

CHARLES BEMIS REARICK.

\Vitnesses JESSIE B. KAY, HARRY G. DUNCAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

